Patent GB-190313556-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Treating Spun Fibres with Liquids for Dyeing Bleaching and other Purposes
Inventor: REID WILLIAM
Filed: 1903-06-17
Granted: 1904-06-16
Abstract: 13,556. Reid, W. June 17. Yarns and threads, treating with liquids.-Relates to the treatment of spun fibres, whereby the material may be passed through any desired number of vats for dyeing, bleaching, mordanting, washing, and uther purposes, in a manner closely resembling that in which banks are treated in the ordinary process, and may be subsequently or at any stage of the process pressed and dried, all the operations being performed without the use of hand labour, and the material being finally in a finished state ready for being wound on to bobbins or into a warp &c. A number of threads are wound on to a kind of reel, comprising a rectangular frame a, Fig. 1, which can be turned about the axles or centres b when it is desired to wind the material upon it, and carries two auxiliary frames c, which are journalled in the side bars of the frame a and can be rotated upon their longitudinal axes independently of the rotation of the frame a. Means are provided for holding the frames c either in the same plane or at right-angles to the frame a, and the arrangement is such that the tension of the yarn on the reel is practically the same with the frames c in either of these two positions. A machine is described for winding the yarn from bobbins on to the reel, the yarns passing through a reed or comb, which is so reciprocated relatively to the speed of rotation of the reel that each turn of thread on the reel is caused to occupy a different position on the reel from that occupied by the previous turn, so as to facilitate the saturation of the material with the treating-liquid. The longitudinal bars of the reel are made thin and flat, so that the reel, with the material on it may be passed through squeezing-rollers; or one of the subsidiary frames or reels c may consist of a flat or double-wedge-shaped chamber, which may be heated by steam for the purpose of drying the yarn. The axles of the frames c are connected by chain gearing, and those e of one of them are extended, so that they may be gripped by clutches 5, Figs. 10 and 11, which are mounted on right and left handed screws u at the sides of the vat containing the treating-liquid, the arrangement being such that when the guide-pins y engage with, say, the right-handed portion of the screw-thread, the grippers 5 move inwards to engage with the ends of the axles e, and when they engage with the oppositely-handed thread the grippers 5 are released. The threads of the screws u are cut in such a manner that, when rotated, the grippers move inwards to grip the axles e of a reel and then carry it along the vat through the distance corresponding to the pitch of this portion of the screw thread, which is, say, right-handed. The guide-pins y then pass into a left-handed portion of the thread, which is of a slightly greater pitch than the other, whereby the grippers release the reel and are carried backwards to a distance corresponding to the pitch of the left-handed portion of the thread to a position for taking up a second reel. The pins y then pass into a second portion of the screw-thread which is right-handed, whereupon the grippers move inwards to grip a second reel and carry it forwards in the same manner as the first besides which it is placed and the gripper carriers x are returned by left-handed screws in order that they may carry forward a third reel and so on, the number of reels in use varying according to the capacity of the vat. When all the reels have been transferred from one end of the vat to the other, the rotation of the screws u is reversed, when the grippers 5 operate to transfer the reels back to the starting end of the vat, and so on, the reels carrying the yarn being moved from one end of the vat to the other and back again until the yarn has been sufficiently treated. During the movement of the reels in one direction, the axles e of the frames c are rotated by reason of pinions 6 on the grippers engaging with a rack 7, which is raised and lowered by cams 9, and during the carrying movements of the grippers in one direction is tilted into the position shown in dotted lines so that it cannot engage with the pinion 6. For the purpose of facilitating the moving of the reels from one vat to another and from place to place, a skeleton truck is provided, which runs on rails and has vertically movable sides operated by toothed gearing, racks, and pinions, and a handle.